Vehicle Design

You may design a vehicle from scratch, or you may convert a real-world vehicle. This section includes modern cars, trucks, bikes, tanks, and futuristic walkers, mechs, and anti-grav vehicles. Not all vehicles will be available in a given time period.

Designing A Vehicle From Scratch

Follow this process to design a vehicle.

Select a chassis type and record base statistics.

Modify the chassis statistics by quality if required. Quality affects price, upgrades, and speed, as well as providing an overall equipment bonus to dice pools.

Tune the chassis if required.

Purchase upgrades.

Purchase armor.

Purchase weapons.

No single upgrade or weapon may use more than half the vehicle's total upgrade slots.

Chassis

The following lists a range of generic vehicle chassis types. Select a chassis type and then add customization as required.

The vehicle's chassis includes its engine. The chassis type can be modified by equipment quality.

Automobile
Chassis

Cost

Weight

Upgrades

Occupants

SPEED

ACCEL

HANDLING

HEALTH

SOAK

DEFENSE

TRAITS

All-terrain
vehicle, small (quads)

$2,500

750

4

2

12

3

B

27

5

12

4WD

All-terrain
vehicle, medium (SUVs)

$9,500

5,000

10

4

12

3

C

70

5

9

4WD

All-terrain
vehicle, large

$15,500

8,000

12

6

10

2

C

89

10

8

4WD

Automobile, compact

$8,000

2,000

8

4

10

2

C

44

5

10

Automobile, large

$13,000

5,000

10

5

12

3

D

70

10

9

Automobile, luxury

$18,000

5,000

10

5

14

3

D

70

10

9

Automobile, sports

$15,000

2,500

8

2

18

4

B

50

5

10

Boat
Chassis

Cost

Weight

Upgrades

Occupants

SPEED

ACCEL

HANDLING

HEALTH

SOAK

DEFENSE

TRAITS

Boat, hovercraft

$28,000

23,000

20

5

4

1

E

151

10

4

Boat, houseboat

$20,000

29,000

22

8

2

1

F

170

15

3

Boat, rowing

$300

80

4

2

2

1

F

8

0

12

Boat, motor, small

$600

700

8

4

6

1

E

26

5

10

Boat, speedboat

$10,000

500

4

2

8

2

E

22

5

12

Canoe

$300

60

4

1

4

1

E

7

0

12

Raft, rubber,
inflatable

$100

50

4

4

2

1

E

7

0

12

Submarine, 2-man

$50,000

5,000

10

2

2

1

F

70

15

9

Submarine, 4-man

$85,000

8,000

12

4

2

1

F

89

15

8

Aircraft
Chassis

Cost

Weight

Upgrades

Occupants

SPEED

ACCEL

HANDLING

HEALTH

SOAK

DEFENSE

TRAITS

Hang glider

$300

30

4

1

4

1

E

5

0

12

Helicopter, 2-Man

$28,000

5,000

10

2

14

3

C

70

5

9

Hover

Helicopter, 4-Man

$90,000

12,000

14

4

12

3

D

109

5

7

Hover

Plane,
2-man

$25,000

17,500

18

2

28

7

E

132

5

5

Plane, private
jet, 10-man

$225,000

33,000

24

10

32

8

F

181

5

2

Motorcycle
Chassis

Cost

Weight

Upgrades

Occupants

SPEED

ACCEL

HANDLING

HEALTH

SOAK

DEFENSE

TRAITS

Motorcycle

$1,500

500

4

1

16

4

B

22

0

12

Narrow

Motorcycle, sports

$5,500

400

4

1

22

5

B

20

0

12

Narrow

Motorcycle,
stunt/dirt

$2,500

300

4

1

18

4

A

17

0

12

Narrow

Truck
Chassis

Cost

Weight

Upgrades

Occupants

SPEED

ACCEL

HANDLING

HEALTH

SOAK

DEFENSE

TRAITS

Truck,
light

$15,000

8,000

12

3

9

2

D

89

10

8

Truck,
medium

$40,000

20,000

20

3

8

2

E

141

10

4

Truck, heavy

$150,000

35,000

24

3

8

1

F

187

10

2

Van

$12,000

5,000

10

5

6

1

D

70

10

9

Tank
Chassis

Cost

Weight

Upgades

Occupants

SPEED

ACCEL

HANDLING

HEALTH

SOAK

DEFENSE

TRAITS

Tank,
light

$300,000

45,000

24

4

4

1

D

212

15

2

Tracked

Tank,
heavy

$750,000

136,000

24

4

3

1

D

369

20

2

Tracked

Car,
armored

$175,000

30,000

20

4

6

2

D

173

15

4

Mech
Chassis

Cost

Weight

Upgrades

Occupants

SPEED

ACCEL

HANDLING

HEALTH

SOAK

DEFENSE

TRAITS

Mech,
ultralight biped

$300,000

20,000

20

1

10

3

-

141

10

4

Walker

Mech, light biped

$700,000

40,000

20

1

6

2

-

200

10

4

Walker

Mech,
medium biped

$2,000,000

150,000

24

3

8

2

-

387

15

2

Walker

Mech, heavy biped

$5,000,000

300,000

24

3

6

1

-

547

20

0

Walker

Hover
Chassis

Cost

Weight

Upgrades

Occupants

SPEED

ACCEL

HANDLING

HEALTH

SOAK

DEFENSE

TRAITS

Bike,
swoop

$8,000

1,000

4

1

28

8

A

31

0

10

Hover

Speeder, hover

$10,500

4,500

10

2

16

3

C

67

0

9

Hover

Podracer

$18,000

7,000

12

1

32

8

C

83

0

8

Hover

Walker
Chassis

Cost

Weight

Upgrades

Occupants

SPEED

ACCEL

HANDLING

HEALTH

SOAK

DEFENSE

TRAITS

Walker,
chicken

$300,000

26,500

22

2

5

1

-

162

15

3

Walker

Walker,
rhino

$3,400,000

200,000

24

3

4

1

-

447

20

0

Walker

Automobile, compact. Compacts include many hatchbacks and small sedans. It contains a large number of Japanese vehicles (although not exclusively so). Examples include the Honda Civic, Volkswagon Beetle, Mini Cooper, or Ford Falcon.

Automobile, large. This is the standard size, covering most coupes, sedans, and station wagons. Most sedans are large cars, with room for five adults and a large trunk. If in doubt, classify a vehicle as a large car as default.

Automobile, luxury. Luxury cars are premium cars of varying sizes. This category contains limousines and executive cars. Examples include vehicles from Rolls-Royce and Bentley, as well more mainstream brands like Audi, BMW, and Mercedez-Benz.

Automobile, sports. Sports cars are high performance vehicles, usually a similar size to a compact, although they can range up to mid-size vehicles. Muscle cars are typically rear wheel drive mid-size sports cars; this also includes roadsters (also known as spiders).

ATVs. These include quads and buggies (small all-terrain vehicles), SUVs and jeeps (medium all-terrain vehicles), and vehicles like Hummers (large all-terrain vehicles). It doesn't include Humvees or tanks.

Motorcycle. This includes chopper and cruiser style motorcycles, including Harley Davidsons, BMW motorcycles, and other common brands. Motorcycles gain a +2 DEFENSE bonus from the front or rear.

Motorcycle, sport. This includes racing motorcycles. Motorcycles gain a +2 DEFENSE bonus from the front or rear.

Motorcycle, stunt/dirt. Motorcycles designed for dirt racing or for jumps and other stunts. Motorcycles gain a +2 DEFENSE bonus from the front or rear.

Tanks. Tanks are either light (light the Stingray) or heavy (like a Challenger or an Abrams M1). Note that the chassis alone does not include weaponry.

Truck, light. Pickup trucks, and other smaller trucks. In the US Department of Transportation's Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) classifications, this includes trucks up to Class 3.

Truck, medium. These are FHWA classifications from 4-6, including haulers, dump trucks, and tow trucks.

Van. A van is smaller than a truck but larger than an SUV, and is used for transporting goods. This also includes ambulances and small busses.

Mechs. Mechs are armored combat vehicles, often bipedal in shape. The smallest weigh in the region of ten tons and stand 10 feet tall. Small mechs are often used for reconnaissance or scouting missions, while medium mechs are the equivalent of tanks in mech warfare. Mechs do not have a handling class, as they are bipedal and are able to turn in place at-will.

Aircraft. Unless marked with the Hover trait, an aircraft must maintain a minimum forward speed of 10 in order to stay aloft. An aircraft reduced to half HEALTH is disabled, as normal, and crashes. Aircraft can increase or decrease their altitude by an amount equal to their ACCEL score each round. Range to a flying vehicle is either the horizontal or vertical distance, whichever is larger.

Boats. Boats reduced to half HEALTH begin to take in water and sink.

Hover vehicles. Hover vehicles use antigrav technology. A swoop bike has a maximum altitude of 30', while a civilian speeder is an automobile-sized hovercraft with a maximum altitude of 10'. Hoover vehicles have the Hover trait, and so do not have to maintain forward momentum to stay in the air. Podracers are designed solely for speed, have a maximum altitude of 30', and are primarily used for racing.

Walkers. Chicken walkers are designed for scout and reconnaissance missions. Rhino walkers are massive, heavily armored troop carriers which can hold up to 40 troops. Unlike other vehicles, walkers can rotate on the spot without forward momentum, and can turn any number of times during a move. For this reason, they do not have a Handling class.

Transmission. With a short-shift transmission, the vehicle's ACCEL can be increased by 1.

Rims/tires. Improved tires can increase road grip, improving the vehicle's HANDLING by one category to a maximum of C.

Suspension. A stiffer suspension will improve HANDLING by one category to a maximum of C. However, it makes for a less comfortable ride - when the vehicle spins out, occupants take 2d6 damage each instead of 1d6 damage.

Brakes. Ventilated disc brakes or other improvements can increase ACCEL by 1 for the purposes of deceleration only.

Passenger space. Occupant slots can be removed to allow additional upgrade slots on a 1:1 basis. No vehicle can have less than 1 occupant. Note that this also reduces the number of actions available to a vehicle.

Ultra-light body. Body panels can be replaced with ultra-light materials. This increases the vehicle's maximum SPEED by 2, but reduces its SOAK by 5. This cannot be combined with a reinforced chassis (below).

Vehicle Upgrades

Upgrades (and weapons) use upgrade slots. A vehicle's upgrade slots are roughly evenly distributed around the chassis; a vehicle can have no more than one third of its upgrade slots in any one direction (forward, rear, left, right). This applies to upgrades which have a designated location in the table below, and to weapons, which must have a firing arc designated.

Upgrade

Slots

Location

Cost

Availability

Adaptive camouflage

1

General

20,000

5B

Additional propulsion system

1

Rear

2,000

5A

Reinforced chassis

1

General

2,500

4A

Body blades

1

General

4,000

4A

Bulletproof windows

2

General

3,000

5A

Cable launcher

2

Front

5,000

4B

Cement/paint blaster

3

Rear

8,000

5B

Conversion vehicle

3

General

5,000

5C

Dubious license plates

0

Rear/Front

1,000

4A

Ejector seat

1

General

3,000

4A

Hidden compartments

1

General

1,000

4A

Imaging matrix

1

General

5,000

5B

Kevlar tyres

1

General

10,000

5A

Mines

1

General

5,000

5A

Ramplate

3

Front

2,000

4A

Remote control

1

General

20,000

5A

Retractable skis

1

General

2,000

4B

Self-destruct

1

General

4,000

4A

Slick jet

1

Rear

3,000

4A

Smoke jet

1

Rear

1,500

4A

Spike strip launcher

1

General

6,000

5B

Spiked tires

1

General

500

5A

Spiked wheels

1

General

1,000

4B

Targeting computer

1

General

10,000

5B

Wheel guards

1

General

500

4A

Wideband receivers

1

General

800

5A

Fire
extinguisher

0

General

120

4A

Halon
fire suppression system

1

General

2,200

5A

Airbrakes

1

General

4,000

5A

Parachute

2

Rear

6,000

5A

Roll
cage

4

General

5,000

4A

A.I.

1

General

20,000

5B

Adaptive camouflage. Tiny cameras on both sides of the vehicle take high resolution pictures directly beside the vehicle, then project a layover image completely identical to those pictures that covers the vehicle, causing it to disappear into its surroundings. This is exceptionally complicated technology that only makes you invisible from one direction (and anyone that looks too closely easily sees your ruse). This upgrade may only be used when stationary.

Additional propulsion system. This upgrade gives the vehicle a temporary boost, giving it +2 ACCEL (for speed increases only) and increasing its maximum SPEED by +2 for 1d6 rounds once per day. For double the structure cost, this upgrade can be concealed (requiring a Difficult [15] INT check to notice). This upgrade may be selected more than once; each time it is purchased, the duration of the temporary boost is increased by 1 round and it can be used one more time per day.

A.I. A basic A.I. operates as an occupant, allowing the vehicle to take an additional action with a 4d6 dice pool, and has a LOG attribute of 2. An advanced A.I. (at ten times the cost) is also able to drive the vehicle autonomously and hold basic conversations with the occupants; it has a LOG attribute of 4.

Airbrakes. Airbrakes can be deployed to double a vehicle's ACCEL score for the purposes of deceleration only.

Body blades. Long reinforced blades snap out of the vehicle’s sides with the push of a button.A driver may make attacks against an adjacent vehicle or creature using their driving skill; the blades do 2d6 slashing damage.

Bulletproof windows. The vehicle gains an ablative SOAK 50 ballistic.As ablative SOAK, bulletproof windows cease to provide any benefits after they have soaked 50 points of ballistic damage. These windows are also immune to windshield hit location damage until their SOAK is used up.

Cable launcher. A vehicle with this upgrade may grab vehicles and creatures within 50’ of it, latching on with a steel cable that embeds into the target (2d6 slashing damage). A successfully grabbed vehicle can have its SPEED reduced by the SPEED of the vehicle that grabbed it. A side-mounted cable launcher can be used to make a free 90-degree turn in that direction only at any speed. Cable launchers can only be deployed once.

Cement/paint blaster. This upgrade gives the vehicle a unique weapon ideal to obscure windshields or muck up the engines of other vehicles. The cement/paint blaster has a range of 3 hexes (30’); on a hit, the target vehicle is blinded (-2d6) until the wet cement is removed. A cement/paint blaster can be fired 3 times before its ammunition is exhausted. Creatures struck by a cement/paint blaster are restrained for 1d6 rounds. This upgrade may be selected a second time to increase the capacity of the cement/paint blaster by 3.

Conversion vehicle. Over the course of a round, a conversion vehicle may change the type of terrain it traverses (for instance, a car might become a submarine or take flight). This type of terrain is chosen when the upgrade is purchased. A vehicle’s speed rating is halved for this new terrain type.This upgrade covers the gamut of modifications required, adding in oxygen tanks, compensating for the pressure of the depths, and so on.

Dubious license plates. This simple upgrade is almost essential for clandestine vehicles; with the flip of a switch, the license plate can obscure or rotate to reveal a different license plate.

Ejector seat. One vehicle occupant can rapidly flee, flying out into the air in their chair before safely parachuting to the ground. If a vehicle spins out or explodes, an ejector seat ensures that the occupant is safely removed. The position of the ejector seat must be designated. Optionally, the ejector seat may retain the chair, and simply eject the occupant without a parachute, causing them 3d6 damage upon landing.

Fire extinguisher. A fire extinguisher can be used by an occupant to extinguish a fire. A fire extinguisher can be used once; multiple extinguishers can be installed.

Halon fire suppression system. A halon fire suppression system operates automatically, putting out any vehicle fire the round after it starts with no actions requires from the vehicle's occupants. It can operate three times before it needs to be replenished.

Hidden compartments. The vehicle has several caches integrated into its structure. Finding one of these compartments requires a Difficult [16] INT check. This upgrade may be taken multiple times.

Imaging matrix. The vehicle has external sensors capable of radial thermal imaging, allowing it to detect creatures in pitch blacknessor through smoke or other obscuring material. It can fire upon such targets with no penalty.

Kevlar tires. This vehicle’s tires are invincible and cannot be shot out or destroyed by any attack that deals less than 15 points of damage. Only land vehicles may take this upgrade.

Mines. The vehicle can dispense mines or grenades once per turn; this upgrade holds up to 6 mines or grenades. For an additional $2,000, the capacity of this upgrade can be increased to 9 mines or grenades. Mines occupy an adjacent hex and do 2d6 heat damage upon contact.

Parachute. A parachute is used to rapidly halt a vehicle's forward momentum. It grants an ACCEL of 12 for the purposes of deceleration only. A parachute can only be deployed once - once the vehicle stops decelerating, it is cut loose.

Ramplate. This upgrade allows a vehicle to ram other targets without suffering any internal damage. The vehicle gains 50 SOAK to collisions from the direction of the ramming attachment.

Reinforced chassis. A vehicle with a reinforced chassis increases its SOAK by 2 and becomes much heavier, reducing its ACCELERATION rating by -1 (if its ACCEL rating is already 1, then SPEED is reduced by 1 instead).

Remote control. This vehicle may be controlled remotely. When doing so, the driver uses computers for skill checks and is at a -1d6 for using a wireless connection. This upgrade may be taken a second time to eliminate the penalty. A vehicle must have the Wide-Band Receivers upgrade before it can take this upgrade.

Retractable skis. A vehicle with this upgrade may ignore difficult terrain caused by snow. If taken a second time by a vehicle with the spiked wheels upgrade, a land vehicle can be made bouyant and able to move on water at half its normal speed.

Roll cage. A steel structure around a vehicle helps protect occupants from damage. When an occupant would normally be injured due to spinning out or flipping, the roll cage prevents such damage from taking place.

Self destruct. This upgrade rigs the vehicle to explode when a certain button is pressed or command sent. A self destruct does damage equal tothe vehicle’s HEALTH in the vehicles' square(s), and halved for each square of distance. This upgrade may be taken a second time to increase the potency and range of the vehicle’s self destruct blast by 50%.

Slick jet. This upgrade allows a vehicle to leave a slick coating in a trail behind it that is 20' long and 10' wide (2 hexes) for 6 rounds a day (these need not be used consecutively). The area become slippery, causing vehicles to spin out if a successful check is not made. This upgrade may be selected a second time to increase it’s daily uses a day by 6 rounds or to add an accelerant and ignition to the slick, lighting it on fire (dealing 1d6 heat damage to anything that passes through it).

Smoke jet. This upgrade allows a vehicle to leave a thick obscuring cloud of smoke in a trail behind it that is 20' long and 10' wide (2 hexes) for 12 rounds a day.This upgrade may be selected a second time to introduce a toxic agent or tear gas to the smoke, causing it to deal 1d6 poison damage to any creatures that pass through it. Smoke blocks many lasers, and blocks line-of-sight.

Spiked tires. A vehicle with this upgrade can ignore difficult terrain caused by slippery road conditions. Only land vehicles may select this upgrade.

Spiked wheels. Spikes erupt from this vehicle’s wheels to slash and tear at other vehicles. Only land vehicles may select this upgrade. A driver may make attacks against an adjacent vehicle using their driving skill; the blades do 2d6 slashing damage and ignore SOAK automatically unless the target vehicle has wheel guards.

Spikestrip launcher. This vehicle can fire spikestrips. A spikestrip deals 4d6 slashing damage to vehicles which run over it and forces it to spin out unless a successful check is made.

Targeting computer. This upgrade allows a vehicle’s weapons to integrate with one another and grants a +1d6 bonus to all of the attacks the vehicle’s weapons make.

Wheel guards. This vehicle’s wheels are protected by its chassis and its tires have a DEFENSE of 20. Only land vehicles may select this upgrade. Wheel guards also allow a vehicle to apply the vehicle's overall SOAK to attacks by spiked wheels.

Wideband receivers. a vehicle with this upgrade is able to pick up all bands of radio waves and provides its passengers with an internet connection.

Armor

Armor can be added to a vehicle which has a reinforced chassis. Each unit of armor adds 1 to the vehicle's SOAK in one particular direction (forward, rear, left, right), and uses one upgrade slot. A unit of armor costs $1,000.

Vehicles without a reinforced chassis cannot add armor.

Mounted Weapons

Weapons must be allocated a specific firing arc (forward, left, right, or rear) unless the weapon is turreted. Each weapon requires an occupant to use it (the driver counts as one occupant). As noted above, no more than one third of a vehicle's upgrade slots may be located in one arc.

Turrets. A turreted weapon costs twice the listed price and takes up one additional upgrade slot. A turreted weapon may fire in any direction if mounted on top, or in two arcs if mounted on a specific firing arc. Only one turreted weapon may occupy any given side (or the top of a vehicle).

Linked. Weapons may be linked in pairs. Linked weapons take up one extra upgrade slot for the linked set, and require only one operator. Linked weapons must share the same firing arc.

ROF. This is a recharge rate for weapons. A weapon with ROF 1 can fire every turn; one with ROF 2 can fire once every other turn; ROF 3 means once every 3 turns, and so on.